This is probably discussed enough elsewhere

But Olympian Bradley and his team coach Shane Sutton were both recently hurt in car collisions while on bikes, within 24 hours of each other.

Forum relevance, Sutton is 50+ I think

That's unfortunate. But to me, not infuriating.

What is infuriating is the 'comments' thread in every UK newspaper stating that they, and by extraplolation every cyclist, deserve what they get when hit by inattentive drivers.

I honestly thought that we'd got beyond this

It is not just a UK phenomenon Wog, motorist here seem to watch for these articles or columns and take out their frustrations on bicyclist in the comments section. They are anonymous there so they can vent their bile without others knowing who is making such immature and misinformed comments. Most would be to cowardly to say them face to face to a cyclist or even others driving. It is much the same as a forum or bulletin board, internet bravado, it seems to me. And I also see cyclist on forums like BF that demand the death penalty for any transgression by a motorist, too. Same principal I would suppose.

I think most motorist feel a sense of entitlement to have the road strictly to their liking and anything that changes their drive is without merit or legal rights. I'd be willing to wager that the same people are the ones that have road rage in varying degrees about any motorist, pedestrian, traffic detour, etc, that alters their preferred route and speed. To say the cyclist "Got what they deserved....." lets them feel like they are defending their beliefs and rights as they see them. A sad commentary on the attitudes of motorist now.

Here is an article about the hateful tweets and comments towards Wiggins and cyclist in general:https://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...ing?intcmp=239 The old "My taxes paid for this road........" was trotted out I see. I guess all bicyclist are exempt from taxes , wish I had known this one.

I also suspect a moderator or an administrator may end up moving this thread to A&S or P&R depending on how it trends because it may well get heated. I really hope not, it is a topic we should discuss rationally.

Bill

When you have a culture that airs the television show Top Gear in which one of their advertisement commercials shows a car ramming a group of parked bicycles with the hosts laughing, you have a clue about attitudes. Jeremy Clarkson seems to take particular delight in lashing out at cyclist, claiming they deserve abuse from motorist. Show reinforcement of hostile attitudes will not facilitate change any time soon.

Speaking as a UK-based cyclist, I have to say it doesn't bother me. It's just a manifestation of the well-known phenomenon which sees people posting on blogs, forums and other social media extreme and provocative views that they may hold, but would not express in such terms in circumstances in which they could be held accountable. Unfortunate, but there is nothing to be done about it.

I am more concerned by the mainstream media response, which is along the lines of "if even Bradley Wiggins can get hit, it just goes to show how dangerous cycling is for less expert cyclists", ignoring the fact that in the UK more than twenty million miles is cycled per cycling fatality. So more people are deterred from getting on bikes (or, worse, from letting their kids get on bikes) when actually they are at greater risk of an accident when in their own homes.

As for Jeremy Clarkson, the man is a tit. However, he makes his living from being deliberately offensive, so the best thing to do is ignore him rather than react.

While I was out riding my bike, I saw a car breeze through a stop sign, so I tried to run him off the road. I just couldn't catch him.

j/k

True, Jeremy Clarkson is offensive (but funny, usually) whereas, on the other hand, Richard Hammond is quite the keen cyclist and in fact won a race across London beating James May (in an S.U.V.), Jeremy (in a racing boat) and The Stig (using Public Transport). Richard looked good (excellent cadence!) on his carbon Specialized city-bike in that feature!

Yes, I am a Top Gear fan in spite of Jeremy.

Rick / OCRR

These things can happen at any time to any of us while riding. The people involved in this case have a high profile in British cycling, and the ever vigilant English media will jump on anything that might sell newspapers, websites and television ads.

Interesting that there is a strong Australian connection with this pairing -- Wiggins had an Australian father (even though the son disowned him) and Sutton was one of Australia's earliest TdF riders.

And yes, Top Gear does have its good moments, but I'm finding it increasingly boring and trite because it centres almost entirely on performance cars and driving that can only be done on a race track... that is, it is so far removed from reality, it's ridiculous.

I see what you did there.

Yeah, I kind of expect the low-end comments to be there in the comment sections of these sort of news stories. However, I have chatted up close and in person with a great many people who make the same sort of comments regarding cyclists. Those are the ones that worry me because they seem to think there is nothing wrong with barbaric notions.

The question is, which is the bigger risk, being hit by a car when cycling, or not cycling and dying of a cardiac arrest, because your arteries hardened from not enough exercise?